I have sat on boards of directors with some of the nations most wealthy and powerful men (yes, just men, at least the most wealthy and powerful ones). I have spent hours leafing through binders of three ringed presentations, or staring at PowerPoint presentation in palaces of industry, seated at ornate and beautifully made tables. After mulling over important questions of governance, I have then grown hungry and looked forward to lunch… which is almost always a Druxy’s sandwich platter. And I have thought, will anyone ever deliver us from this Hades of midday gastronomy?
Apparently someone will, or will at least try to. His name is Ryan Spong. Spong had, and still has, a fish taco joint and a fleet of trucks called Tacofino on the West Coast. As a restaurateur he signed up to local Vancouver start-up with a silly name called Food.ee, which took orders on his restaurant’s behalf from hungry corporate types who were meeting through lunch. He liked the new business and liked reaching out to a new clientele. He also liked the people at Food.ee and kept in touch, offering advice and tips from a supplier’s point of view. They liked his advice so much, in fact, they asked him to be the CEO, which he is.
Talking over the phone a few weeks ago, on the occasion of Food.ee’s Toronto launch, Spong explained that delivering lunch to office towers to from small, independent restaurants wasn’t actually Food.ee’s “killer app”, even though it is a very, very good thing. Food.ee’s true killer app, said Spong, was using dead time in their restaurant’s kitchen between 9 and noon. That’s what impressed him so much about Food.ee. He was worried that the service would slam his fish taco restaurant with orders during what was already their busiest time, but because corporate meetings are generally planned at least a day ahead, Food.ee restaurants can offer meeting menus of foods that can cooked ahead of the lunch time rush and delivered fresh, hot and on time.
Could the black plastic sandwich tray soon be a thing of the past?
Malcolm Jolley is a founding editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the company that publishes it. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
